The present invention relates to the area of technology concerned with reducing the resistance of sports clothing to fluids. It relates to clothing possessing favourable fluid resistance properties such as clothing used in speed-based competitive sporting events intended to reduce air resistance, as required, for example, in sports such as cycling and skating, and swimwear intended to reduce resistance to water especially in swimming tournaments.
In events such as cycling, skating, and swimming tournaments where the competitors are racing at speeds at which the final results are measured in units of a hundredth of a second, a conspicuous effect on the final time is exerted by fluid resistance in the form of resistance to air and water. For example, in the case of swimwear, especially in the case of women's competitive swimwear, it has been proven that the large degree of fluid resistance during swimming has the effect that differences in fluid resistance against water bring about important differences in the final results of an event. For this reason, research has for several years been conducted into how it might be possible to reduce resistance by means of improvements in the shape and design of swimwear, as well as into the surface state of swimwear materials. In the latter case, that is to say in the field of methods aimed at improving material quality, the technique generally employed has been to reduce fluid resistance against water by making the surface of the swimwear as smooth as possible.
However, women's swimwear in particular has several large openings such as around the neck and at the back and sides; for this reason, water and air inevitably intrude from these openings during swimming. Such intrusion of water or air produces vibrations at the edges of these openings resulting in the formation of turbulence which increases propulsive resistance against the water. There is the further handicap that the water and air which intrude from these openings become lodged between the swimwear and the swimmer's body, thus increasing the mass in motion. The combination of these phenomena increases propulsive resistance in the water, making it extremely difficult for swimmers participating in events in which the limits of their physical strength are being tested to improve their times.
Intrusion of water does not occur only from the above-mentioned openings, but also through the cloth of the swimwear in the vicinity of these openings. It has thus been proven that the above-mentioned problem cannot be solved merely by attaching the edges of these openings more firmly to the body.
The above-mentioned phenomena occur not only in the case of swimwear but in exactly the same manner also in the case of wear worn by competitors in cycling and skating events in which speed is of the essence and in which fluid resistance against air is a matter of importance.